THE TORCH:MARCH 2004

THE BOTTOM LINE

Hugh M. Spoljaric, President

Kingston Teachers’ Federation

“The Real Terror”

On February 25, the New York Times printed
a column by Sam Dillon and Diana Jean Schemo on Secretary of Education Rod
Paige’s remarks about teachers in which he characterized them as “terrorists”
and the National Education Association as a “terrorist organization.” The
remarks were prompted by the union’s criticism of President Bush’s No Child Left
Behind program.

Our members are the N.E.A., and on behalf
of them, I ask President Bush to express his regret to the nation's educators
and demand that Secretary Paige step down," said the union's president,
Reg Weaver.

In the House, Representative Betty
McCollum, Democrat of Minnesota, called on Dr. Paige to resign. She
characterized his remarks as "neo-McCarthyism at its worst."

The union sees the law as a barely
concealed effort to weaken public education and build support for vouchers. The
Education Department has failed to finance the law fully. Secretary Paige has
reacted by calling supporters of NCLB a “coalition of the winning” and critics
as a “coalition of the whining.”. In recent months, Paige has called such
critics "nihilists" and compared them to French diplomats at the
United Nations who opposed resolutions on Iraq as well as to racists who
opposed desegregation. The Times article reported that mounting irritation with
the law among many educators appeared to have created alliances between groups
that are often at odds and that The
American Federation of Teachers, the KTF’snational organization with 1.3 million members and is a rival,
closed ranks with the N.E.A. Alex
Wohl, an AFT spokesman said "Secretary Paige's statement is indicative of
the way this administration and this secretary paint with a broad brush and
attack anybody that disagrees with them,". "There has to be room for
disagreement, but this administration tends to simply attack the messenger
instead of discussing the message.

In early
January, in discussing the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case, Dr.
Paige compared critics of the new education law to "those who fought
Brown," suggesting the critics were racists. And on Jan. 28, he compared
those who oppose educational choice, the movement that includes everything from
vouchers to charter schools, to "the French at the United Nations,
promising to veto any resolution on Iraq, regardless of what it says."

It’s not only time for Secretary Paige to
go. It’s time for the administration that supports unfounded mandates and this
behavior to go.

And that’s the Bottom Line.

DID YOU REMEMBER?

The Kids’ Classic is on April 24. Did you register for one hour of duty
with Kim Tegeler at Edson?

If you are a retiring teacher who wants
the RIP buyout, you must send a binding letter to the district Superintendent
by March 30.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 12.
It’s the Relay For Life at Dietz and it’s during the day!

Have you sent an email to an elected
representative? Just go th www.nysut.org
and click on ‘contact your legislator’.

If you’re using
a prescription drug for more than three months to use mail order. Call Miriam
at the Trust Office, (845)338-5422.

STATE NEWS

There are similar bills in both the State Assembly and Senate proposing
retirement buyouts. They are similar to past years, one month for every year of
service to a maximum of 36 months.

KTF President Hugh Spoljaric will be in
Albany meeting with Assemblyman Kevin Cahill and Senator Larkin on the
Governor’s proposed budget and on the retirement bills.

On another note, the NYSTRS has issued a
letter to all school districts reminding them that Education Law (section) 501
states that only “regular compensation earned as a teacher” is reportable and
includable in the calculation of the three year final average salary. Confusion
has arisen regarding earnings in extended day programs.

According to the NYSTRS’s rules and
practices, the extended day services must constitute actual classroom teaching
of academic subject only. Members must have a career history of providing such
services that extends well beyond the three-year period prior to retirement.
The memo instructs school districts to NOT report such compensation as regular
earnings.

The KTF has sent a copy of the memo to
NYSUT for review.

NO! Teacher of
the Year

At the March 1
meeting of the KTF Board of Directors, a motion was passed with unanimous
support that opposed the district’s intent to designate an award for ‘Teacher
of the Year’.

The resolution
states that the KTF is opposed to the designating of any teacher or teacher
group as “Teacher(s) of the Year. Reps voiced concern for the potential
divisiveness of such an award. There was support for the idea that ALL teachers
and staff should be honored throughout the year.

CONTRACTUAL
MATTERS

The KTF has
signed a Letter of Understanding with the district that teachers of newly
funded after school programs at four elementary schools and the ELA programs at
the middle schools will be compensated at the same rate as those who teach in
the Night School and 2School programs at KHS.

The
Superintendent has rejected a voucher for payment to teachers for the scoring
of the Math A state exam in January. Two other scoring voucher cases, from January
and June 2003 are scheduled for arbitration. This recent scoring test will be
added to the arbitrations. The KTF is awaiting the results of a December
arbitration involving denial of tenure and there are two more arbitrations
scheduled. In the past ten years, we have only been to the last step of
arbitration twice.

Teachers and
staff taking future defibrillator (AED) certification classes will be advised
of their responsibilities in taking the certification.

The KTF
teachers will exchange contract proposals with the district for a successor
agreement on April 19.

The district,
at the Board of Education meeting on March 3, approved the school calendar for
2004-05. It is similar to this year’s calendar.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second
person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:

1) Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.
GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that
you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you
the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE:

1) You believe
in Santa Claus.

2)
You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3) You are Santa Claus 4) You look like Santa Claus.

SUCCESS:At age 4 success is . . . not peeing in your pants.
At age 12 success is . . . having friends.
At age 16 success is . . having a drivers license.
At age 20 success is . . . going all the way.
At age 35 success is . . . having money.
At age 50 success is . . having money.
At age 60 success is . . . going all the way.
At age 70 success is . . . having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is . . . having friends.
At age 80 success is . . . not peeing in your pants.